Nepalese art in the City

Buddhist Strains

If you are an art lover, then this might be the perfect place for you to visit. Here’s presenting to you ‘Chanting Icons’, a show of acrylic and oil on canvas at Gallery One, Gurgaon till May 31.

It is a group show of paintings from artists of Nepal – Shashi Bikram Shah, Kiran Manandhar, Uma Shankar Shah, Dr Seema Sharma Shah,
Bhairaj Maharjan.

The show is a retrospective of Nepalese art and puts forward five of the top artists from Nepal. The show showcases evolving icons and narratives in a continuum, like the flow of a Buddhist chant.

The journey begins with the paintings of Shashi Bikram Shah, which reminds of ancient rituals like the Ashvamedha that symbolises episodes marked by challenges, struggles and conquests, whose end is never postulated until it actually occurs. His powerful expression makes a striking starting point for a foray into
contemporary Nepali art.

Kiran Manandhar carries forward the iconic tradition from that of village deities to secular icons of the modern world. His capacity to create inspiring icons from day to day life transfigures ordinary people and makes them the objects of our devotion. “These icons are ordinary people whose role in day to day struggles of life in our fields and on the streets gives them a heroic place in their works,” said Kiran.

 Other paintings include the works of Umashankar and Seema Sharma Shah which takes you to the streets and alleys of Kathmandu. Finally, one can see the iconic images of the Buddha and of various monks by Bhairaj Maharjan.

He blends the many elements along the path of enlightenment and liberation into single meditative images where the stereotype of the Buddha too transforms itself into the portrait of a meditating human being.

Bhairaj said, “My artworks are a reminder of how every collective spiritual quest is ultimately that of the liberation of an individual and so people can relate to both – as work of art and as elements of personal experience.”